Veronica Treviño stares straight at the camera as she answers questions from an unseen interrogator. She speaks loudly, without hesitation, and with little expression.

Who does she work for? "The Zetas [a drugs cartel]" What is her group doing in the north-eastern city of Tampico? "Heating up the turf of the Gulf cartel [a rival trafficking gang]." What actions does that include? "Killing taxi drivers, police officers, innocent people and children."

The video of Treviño's confession, presumably under pressure from the Gulf cartel, was posted on the internet at the end of November.

guardian.co.uk

When you think of a Mexican drug smuggler, cartel operative or drug baron, what is your mental image?

I imagine a guy with sunglasses and a big Dodge Ram pickup.

Or you might envision somebody out of a Robert Rodriguez movie, like the ruthless character portrayed by Portuguese actor Joaquim de Almeida in “Desperado.”

Nevertheless, all drug traffickers don’t fit the stereotypes. Some of them, in fact, are women.

She resembles a middle class Mexican mother or businesswoman, one you might see any day of the week.

mexidata.info
Female crime on increase
Female felons swell ranks among Mexican criminals
Mexico sells off narco-bling seized from traffickers
old zack

The glamorous Sandra Avila Beltran, alias "the Queen of the Pacific," allegedly Mexico's most famous woman drug trafficker, was acquitted of drug trafficking charges today by a federal judge in Mexico City due to a lack of evidence.

Sandra Avila Beltran was reputed to play a key public relations role for the Sinaloa cartel, headed by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, Mexico's most wanted drug trafficker. Avila Beltran is said to have worked on various shipments of cocaine from Colombia to Mexico. She was arrested outside a restaurant in the San Jeronimo neighborhood of Mexico City in September 2007.

Avila Beltran, used to Chanel makeup and the best things money can buy - has been languishing in the Santa Marta Acatitla women's prison in Mexico City.

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ap
Mexico's "Queen Of The Pacific"
Algo de lo publicado en 2009
Obtiene Sandra Ávila amparo contra su extradición a Estados Unidos
oxiborick
La Reina del Pacifico y Otras Mujeres del Narco [Paperback @ amazon]